I love this little bike. I bought mine in 03 new. It was a left over from 2000. The dealer had three at the time and I wish I had bought a second one. I have put almost 25M miles on it and it has never let me down. I even did an iron butt 1 in 1 on it. I don't plan to ever sell this one. She is a keeper.

Thought I would post a photo of the W with the GIVI E21's. I like the proportions. The aero appears to be much better than the E45N's that I had before. They were big old sails that sucked the life out of the 650 and killed my mileage. These hide behind my legs really well and should be much better. Thinking about adding the Happy Trails top box mount and putting an E36N or E45N on for more capacity on long distance tours. I could then run a seat bag as well.
Barry

Thought I would post a photo of the W with the GIVI E21's. I like the proportions. The aero appears to be much better than the E45N's that I had before. They were big old sails that sucked the life out of the 650 and killed my mileage. These hide behind my legs really well and should be much better. Thinking about adding the Happy Trails top box mount and putting an E36N or E45N on for more capacity on long distance tours. I could then run a seat bag as well.
Barry

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The style of the bags really do suit the bike, but..............Aren't they on backwards? I don't know that bag well enough, but it looks like the hinges are on the outside instead of inside. A good choice for that bike though.

The style of the bags really do suit the bike, but..............Aren't they on backwards? I don't know that bag well enough, but it looks like the hinges are on the outside instead of inside. A good choice for that bike though.

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Me suspects that a hinge on the inside would not provide enough clearance for the tops to open.

The Happy Trails, Touratech, HP, etc aluminum cases all open to the outside when they have a side hinge.

The style of the bags really do suit the bike, but..............Aren't they on backwards? I don't know that bag well enough, but it looks like the hinges are on the outside instead of inside. A good choice for that bike though.

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I first thought the same but the factory mounts are on the opposite side so there is no way. It does appear that GIVI was concerned about the top opening hitting a top box or maybe the seat or seat bag. It is a little weird.
Barry

Tell me more about the exhaust system on that bike. Brand, price and mostly, how does it sound?

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EMGO Dunstall replicas botched on the original headers. Cheapish.
I guess the Dunstalls were like racing slip-ons of the 1960's so they sound fairly "impressive"
Very deep rumble at low rpms, sounds great idling (not too loud). But at around 4000 rpms the sound becomes quite a sporty, raspy roar with an aggressive edge to it.
Also I've opened the air box so the intake roar is pretty serious too when I turn the tap open.
I'm sure some people would call it obnoxious but I think it's just right for the style...

When riding in a group I've got some comments like "I'd like to hear my own bike for a change" etc

Sadly, the day is coming when absolutely no exhaust changes allowed. Period.
We brought it on ourselves and I, too, have been there. Been riding since the 60s and we have have failed to heed the warnings...
Bert

I'm so glad the W owners here are keeping this thread alive. My W is staying under cover for the rest of the winter now that tons of road salt have been deployed in the city. I'll bring her back out after a good spring rain gets rid of all that crap.

Well mine definately is not drag pipe Harley loud, if that's what you mean.
It doesn't set off car alarms or anything. And it's easy to keep the noise down in town by keeping the rpms low and using the throttle sparingly.
In the countryside it doesn't scare horses on pastures right next to the road even if I'm riding it in a more sporty manner.
But it does sound like a sporty motorcycle and not a 2hp lawn mower. Well, that's a bad comparison. Lawn mowers are much louder than new motorcycles!

The noise regulations are getting quite silly. On internet forums many buyers are worried about the "loud mechanical noises" from brand new water cooled japanese engines. Why? Because the exhaust is completely inaudible to the rider and even the smallest normal mechanical sound can easily be heard over it.
The next step must be packaking the engines in several inches of sound deadening foam as on most new bikes the mechanical sounds are louder than the exhaust :huh

At least in the US, we have the most liberal noise regulations of anyplace in the world and if you're even halfway reasonable, you can generally run whatever you want. In Finland, I don't have the slightest idea what the regs are like, but your discussion concerns the noise level of new motorcycles, not what you can do after you buy them. The problem is that many motorcyclists are not being reasonable and certainly the reasonable bar is not "doesn't set off car alarms" or "doesn't startle livestock."

Without hearing your bike, I wouldn't know if yours is reasonable or not, but your initial characterization basically said you like a loud bike and could give a crap if it annoys others. That's precisely the attitude that results in "silly" noise regulations.

but your initial characterization basically said you like a loud bike and could give a crap if it annoys others.

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I must have edited my message, I can't find that kind of a comment.
I did write some people might find it obnoxious. There are people who find any motorcycle obnoxious and think they are all "too loud" and they are all "ridden recklessly" if they look fast etc
I also wrote that it is easy to ride my bike in a manner that keeps the noise down when necessary to avoid irritating people.
My bike does get noticed a lot but I can't remember any reaction that I can interpret as negative.

Usually what is perceived as "loud" depends mostly on other things than the actual sound pressure created by the bike. First of all the basic attitude of the person, whether he likes or dislikes motorcycles. Also the style of the bike, is it a cruiser or a sport bike. And the type of sound, is it deep and low or more high pitched. And the way the bike is being ridden, or the way the onlooker thinks the bike is being ridden (all sport bikes are assumed to be always recklessly speeding no matter what the actual speed is). The actual sound level is a small factor among the other variables.

But no point arguing as apparently you know what I think better than I do myself.